Carlile Vernon

Morgan McSweeney: Who is Sir Keir Starmer's ex-chief of staff? McSweeney, long considered instrumental to the rise of the PM, derived his power and influence from his track record as a political strategist.

At last! Sanity! Had it not occurred to #KeirStarmer that things hadn't exactly been tickety-boo for the last year?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Struggling to identify the #artist who made this #20thcentury #etching. British, framed in a 1930s frame and signed 'DS 36'. Ideas welcomed!

Watching #AnthonyHopkins in #OneLife, having never thought to hear echoes from the late 1930s in our own times - but here we are with #ICE in the US and a whole cast of little Hitlers around the world intending to copy them.

Is the #Wales team planning on turning up at some point? #ENGWAL

An extraordinary collection - and a genuinely personal aesthetic at the heart of it. That Claude Lovat Fraser, those G F. Watts drawings...all jewels. Some collectors are truly creative in assembling their collections, like this chap.

www.olympiaauctions.com/auction/sear...

Newly discovered Michelangelo foot sketch sells for £16.9m Experts at Christie's say it is a foot sketch of the Libyan Sibyl, which was later painted on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.

Art at $23m per foot...

BBC News - Newly discovered Michelangelo foot sketch sells for £16.9m
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Gambling again? They never learn. (Seen near Runfold Nature Reserve).

Well I tried...

Church drops complaint about new Archbishop's handling of abuse case No further action will be taken over the complaint first made in 2020 against Dame Sarah Mullally.

Something's very wrong in the #ChurchOfEngland (and no I don't mean women bishops, which is absolutely right). But Bishops judging each other simply cannot be right. Here there is even an interest in the judgement! What's that old tag, 'to be rather than to seem'?
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Anyone in Congress/Senate.

A well dressed man is shown, in cartoon form, being led handcuffed by a paramilitary.

#Senate and #Congress members, stop waiting to 'see how far he'll go' before the 'how far' is you.

Culloden Historical documentary about the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Written and directed by Peter Watkins, it is presented as a news report from the battlefield.

I'd not seen this 1960s black and white drama documentary before. It's brilliant. It captures the brutality, grimness and ugliness of 18th century armies and the overwhelming disaster for the clans that was #Culloden. The 'actors' are ordinary folk from #Inverness.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Oh for heavens sake #Starmer, stop bl***y flip-flopping. Stand for...well, stand for *something*!

TRUMP: I invented electricity. did it one day, turned on a lamp and a scientist gasped and said wow how did you do that and I said I just flicked a switch and he started crying and saying "sir you've just saved Africa from ebola"

BBC NEWS: a sober reflection on healthcare from the President

It's October 1793 and the King of #Denmark is defending the rights of his country in the face of #GeorgeIII trying to strong-arm him out of neutrality.

I can't think why this struck a chord today. (London Chronicle, October 12th 1793).

#18thc #18thcentury

#Medievalism in the #18thcentury: #QueenAnne (the last regular 'Monarch's Touch' adherent) calls off applications to receive The Touch (London Gazette May 29th 1707). #18c

Why is the #UNSecurityCouncil not in session? Why is the #UN General Assembly no censuring the US for threats to #Greenland? And why are we all acting as if this orange pillock's actions are normal?

Pretty much where we're heading under #Trump, #Xi and #Putin. The #EU musn't let this happen, #Africa has to assert itself and its destiny, and Latin America needs to stop propping up crypto-fascist dictators who fall in line.

Mallams | The Oxford Library Sale Bid Live at Mallams's The Oxford Library Sale auction

Lots of 'Burneyana', as it were, coming up for sale at Mallams on Oxford this month. #FannyBurney fans will see the admiration for their ancestor of family members in 1902.
#18thc #18thcentury
www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auctio...

A map of Greenland in Mercator projection and, superimposed, Greenland in actual size.

Light blue = #Greenland on the Mercator projection, or what #Trump and #MAGA *thinks* he's going to take.

Dark blue= the *actual* size of Greenland and what all that hot air is about.

A bit like the difference between Trump's grandiose claims to intelligence and the pathetic reality, in fact.

#MincePies: better in January than December. Always.

And to cap it all, the 'historical consultant' to the programme wasn't even Sarah Bax Horton, and Sarah isn't even credited in the 'with thanks to' titling at the end. It all looks very close to 'passing off' to me. Shame on you BBC.

So it seems that the 'Murder Club' - four people sitting in a room - 'solved' the case by....reading a book by @sarahbaxhorton.bsky.social .

The #LucyWorsley Murder Club thing seems rather thin - supposition upon supposition (with a good smattering of modern day tut-tutting at Victorian morals) builds something that is called a 'case'. No worse than the innumerable 'X was Jack the Ripper' documentaries, possibly, but certainly no better.

This delightful #watercolour is attributed to John Brompton Cuming (1772-1851), who entered the RA Schools in 1790.
#18thcentury

Multi-tasking, 19th century style.

If the UN Security Council and/or General Assembly aren't in session to condemn #Trump actions on #Veneluela, he'll keep going. Stop this insane toddler before we all go to hell in a handcart.

Watching the #ChristmasUniversityChallenge match between, apparently, UCL and Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Cheering on #MiddlesexUniversity in the Christmas #UniversityChallenge!

The Worst Week of My Life (TV Series 2004–2006) ⭐ 7.9 | Comedy 29m

Watching this for the first time in years and...I can't stop laughing. #BenMiller, #AlisonSteadman and crew were in devastating form. Just open a bottle, sit back and enjoy.

m.imdb.com/title/tt0401...